Drop Cloth
by hanemg
Summary: What happens when Chloe makes a deal with the devil and then wants to back out? She thinks she can outsmart him. Can she?


Drop Cloth (The Reporter)  
  
By: Hanemg  
  
This originally started out as a short, stand-alone story, but in writing it I got an idea as to how to incorporate other characters/stories and tell a tale a la' pulp fiction style so the end may not necessarily be with this one. Feel free to give me feedback whether you like it or hate it. Any information at all may help me improve things in the future either to make you enjoy my stories more or perhaps suffer less if you choose to read them.  
  
Disclaimer: I neither own nor claim any formalized attachment with Smallville or its characters. This work of fan fiction is purely for enjoyment purposes only and no profit is gained with its use. Smallville and all its characters are the property of Warner Bros., DC Comics, Miller/Gough, Tolin-Robbins, et al.  
  
***************************************************  
  
Part 1  
  
Chloe Sullivan entered the main doors of the LuthorCorp corporate headquarters in Metropolis with no small amount of rising anxiety.  
  
Walking into the chilled interior air from the humid Metropolis inner city temperatures made her shiver. She didn't much notice though because she had been shivering all morning with anxiety over this meeting.  
  
One of Lionel Luthor's assistants had contacted her yesterday with the request that she meet with Lionel today. This was unusual in itself as Chloe was used to dealing with Lionel directly in almost all matters. It was as if he wanted as few people as possible outside of the two of them to know that they had any dealings at all with each other.  
  
This was, of course, fine with Chloe. She felt as though she was slowly developing an ulcer from the worry that her activities would be discovered.  
  
When Chloe had asked the assistant what the meeting was in regards to the woman had simply replied that she had no idea, only that Mr. Luthor had stressed the importance of her "discretion" and her "prompt appearance."  
  
During Chloe's three-month association with Lionel Luthor "discretion" had been the watchword. She had constantly been on guard against someone finding out what she was doing. Not an easy feat considering she lived with one of subjects of her investigation and was best friends with another. She had quickly developed the ability to lie convincingly with a straight face on a moment's notice whether she be caught on a phone call with Mr. Luthor or if someone became suspicious at her line of questioning.  
  
When Lionel had originally dangled the offer of the refurbished Torch and a regular column in the Daily Planet before her Chloe had been ecstatic. Later when he had met with her and begun to outline her other "duties" including the investigation of Clark Kent as if her agreement to participate was a foregone conclusion she had been furious. Chloe Sullivan could not be "bought."  
  
Then she had the blow up with Clark and suddenly her "principles" no longer seemed to matter. She was angry and hurt and decided that if everyone else was getting what they wanted then she damn well would too. Twisting the knife in Clark a bit by giving his "precious secrets" to Lionel was simply icing on the cake.  
  
Besides, she had told herself at the time, exposing secrets to the light of truth was a reporter's duty and would probably actually prove beneficial to Clark over time. After all, whatever his secrets were they were obviously the major source of his "angst" and his stupid insistence in not confiding in anyone had caused too much trouble already. Getting everything out in the open might be painful for him at first, but ultimately would be for the best.  
  
That was what she used to tell herself, at least. All too quickly her conscience had caught up with her the more she had to lie to others to cover up what she was doing. Seeing Mr. or Mrs. Kent on the street and the pain in their faces only served to underscore that she was dealing with more than just Clark's secrets. She was setting out to purposely hurt a lot of people. This led to the inevitable question, "what does this say about me?" Not much good Chloe was sure.  
  
Still, Chloe felt betrayed by Clark and her anger over that betrayal made it difficult not to want to hurt him like she had been hurt. But, they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Well, while the longer Clark stayed gone still didn't change the hurt that Chloe was feeling it certainly gave her a chance to reflect on what had happened and realize that perhaps the good times with Clark far outweighed the bad.  
  
But the longer he stayed gone also helped to underscore that there truly were secrets. And even if she no longer desired to find them out for Lionel Luthor the one thing Chloe Sullivan couldn't stand was a secret. At least not one she wasn't privy to. And so her investigation continued.  
  
Investigating for her own curiosity seemed to ease her conscience, but it led to a whole new set of worries. If she didn't intend to tell Lionel Luthor what she discovered then what would she tell him? And what would she do with the information once she had it? Chloe of course never even considered that she wouldn't be able to figure the mystery out.  
  
When her crisis of conscience peeked after about a month of reporting to Lionel she decided to mention to him that she was beginning to feel somewhat uncomfortable having to lie to her father and her friends to cover up her activities.  
  
At the time a small voice in the back of her head had warned her that it would be a mistake to come right out and tell Lionel that she had rethought their arrangement and was no longer interested. So, she had chosen the uncharacteristic, at least for her, route of subtlety and simply suggested that she was "a little" comfortable with the lies.  
  
Lionel had dropped some thinly veiled comments regarding what a shame it would be if people did find out what she was doing and while it was of course totally innocent work it could easily be misunderstood by people as a betrayal of the worst kind. After all, being honest and trustworthy were necessary traits of a reporter. A misunderstanding like this Lionel had said could easily damage her reputation. The powers that be in the school system might even get the idea that someone who wasn't trustworthy shouldn't be at the helm of the Torch. He even went as far as to suggest that it might damage her standing with any applications to journalism schools. These schools, Lionel said, often put a great deal of stock in any recommendations or comments made by the local Board of Education or faculty advisors of the person in question. If they turned down her applications for admission then it was a virtual impossibility that she would ever get a job in the news media. And, he said, he didn't even need to mention the difficulty it would place on her personal life.  
  
Chloe swiftly realized that she couldn't just back out of their arrangement without irreparably damaging her chances for the career that she had always wanted and the relationships she shared. Lionel would see to that. In the end she had decided to just "play along." After all, she had already decided to keep investigating Clark for her own sake and could easily "edit" what she passed along to Luthor.  
  
"Denial" Chloe would later note "was not just a river in Egypt."  
  
End Part 1  
  
Drop Cloth - Part 2  
  
As Chloe entered the elevator and punched the button for the top floor and Lionel's office she wondered for the hundredth time why Lionel had wanted her to investigate Clark. He could easily hire people with much more experience than her. Ones, she was sure, he could also threaten just as easily. She generally settled on the answer that she was closer to the situation than anyone else and would probably be afforded a great deal more access and trust than a stranger. She tried to ignore the little voice that suggested that making a 16 year-old girl disappear might also be easier and therefore more desirable than an adult.  
  
Her investigation had initially been of limited success at best. She had the information regarding Clark's adoption, which she was sure Lionel already knew about as it was he who had set up the agency in the first place, but Lionel had outright refused to fill in the blanks. He obviously had the answers to that part of the puzzle, but was just as obviously making it clear that this was his game and he would be the only one who got to see the completed picture. More digging into the matter proved fruitless as she was unable to find any information regarding Clark's birth parents no matter what database she hacked into.  
  
Failing that, she decided on her next course of action. Since the majority of Clark's suspicious behavior was generally noted during crises the next logical move in her investigation was to interview the people involved in the various strange incidents that had been occurring in Smallville over the past couple of years in which Clark had been involved. The problem with this was the surprising number of people "unavailable" usually because they were dead. For a "leafy little hamlet," Smallville had a high homicide rate.  
  
In the end, Chloe had decided that the most expeditious route was to interview the various "villains" as they were the ones most advantageously placed to observe how Clark managed his "resolutions" of these incidents. Again the number of survivors were surprisingly few.  
  
Of those, Chloe initially ruled out Justin Gaines and Ian Randall because it simply would be too uncomfortable to talk to them. Eric Summers had also been ruled out for the simple reason that he had disappeared since his incarceration. Chloe had been attempting to locate him since his mysterious assent and decline from "superman" status, but had been unable to untangle the mass of red tape that marked his disappearance into "the system."  
  
With some of the others she had encountered different obstacles. When she attempted to interview the two surviving members of the gang that had once attacked her in Lex's mansion they had steadfastly refused to talk to her. It almost seemed to Chloe as if they were too scared to talk about anything that had happened during that entire incident.  
  
Desiree Atkins and Ethan Miller had both declined to speak with her on the advice of their attorneys and Byron Moore, while totally agreeable with the idea of talking to her, simply said that he remembered next to nothing about his interactions with Clark. Jeremy Creek gave a similar statement.  
  
Andrew Connors refused to talk with her, no doubt for fear of furthering his guilt in charges of fraud for attempting to sue the Kents, Chloe was sure. She did, however, convince Andrew's two friends who were with him the night Clark threw him into the police car to speak with her. They reported that Clark had basically handled them like they were small children and had thrown them into a fence rendering them senseless while he beat up Andrew. The two had hypothesized that Clark was some type of steroid junkie. Chloe, of course, still maintained that Clark would have to be on drugs to be on drugs.  
  
A visit to the Lowell County Youth Detention Center gained Chloe access to both Jeff Palmer and Eric Marsh. Jeff had been somewhat reluctant to talk to her as he was due soon to appear before the parole board and was afraid to stir up any new controversy for fear that it would damage his chances for parole. Chloe had finally been able to convince him that everything he said would be off the record and simply for her own curiosity.  
  
"Why do you want to know?" Jeff had asked.  
  
"I'm a reporter." Chloe replied. "A lot of strange stuff happens in Smallville and Clark is usually right in the middle. I want to know why."  
  
Jeff seemed to consider for a moment and then he met her eyes and began speaking.  
  
"There's not much to tell. He, Clark that is, was around the mansion a lot and always seemed to show up when I would try something on Luthor or his girlfriend. There wasn't really anything odd about it. But the night Luthor threw us out of the mansion when I went back to have it out with him things got a little strange. Clark showed up again and when I hit him with one of the flails in the trophy room it broke."  
  
"It broke?" Chloe asked raising her eyebrows.  
  
"Yeah," Jeff said, "it shattered like a brittle piece of plastic."  
  
"What did Clark do?" Chloe asked.  
  
"He flinched away when it hit him, but other than that I couldn't even tell that he felt it. Then I grabbed him and he knocked me into some scaffolding. I don't remember anything after that until the cops came."  
  
Chloe had asked him a few more questions to see if he might remember anything else or change his story any. When no other information was forthcoming she thanked him and left.  
  
Eric Marsh had been a bit more difficult. According to the newspapers and police reports that Chloe had seen there was no connection between Eric's robberies and Clark Kent. Chloe, however, was convinced that there wasn't any way Clark wouldn't have been involved considering that Eric was a Smallville High student and LuthorCorp had been the victim. It was just a hunch, but she had nothing to lose if it turned into a dead end.  
  
Eric had been in line for a lot of scholarships and sports endorsements. His fall from grace had cost him a lot of money and notoriety. Eric was full of anger and there was still the lingering question as to whether or not he had trashed the Torch.  
  
With his second arrest Eric's $250 thousand bond had been revoked and reinstated as a $1 million cash bond. The judge wanted to make sure no one stepped in and bailed him out a second time. His mysterious benefactor didn't reappear and so Eric had to settle for the representation of the Lowell County Public Defenders Office. Eric and his cohorts had gotten a decent deal despite their lack of high priced attorneys. With good behavior they could spend their 19th birthdays as free men. Their only saving grace was the fact that no weapons were actually used in the robberies other than the harpoon guns in the first, which were used only to stop the trucks and not threaten the guards.  
  
Eric had lost everything though and confinement had done nothing for his temper. He initially refused her request to speak with him claiming along with his co-defendants refusal on advice from their attorneys not to speak with the press. Chloe had no luck with his two friends, but Eric's hatred of Clark overrode his hatred of the world at large and he finally agreed to speak with her once he understood that Chloe only had questions about Clark's involvement in the whole affair.  
  
Like Jeff before him Eric had asked, "Why do you want to know?"  
  
Unlike Jeff, however, Eric had followed the question up with another one. "What's in it for me?"  
  
Once Chloe had understood the extent of Eric's hatred for Clark she was able to phrase her answer in a way that made it appealing to him.  
  
"I can't give you a whole lot other than the satisfaction of knowing that Clark is covering something up and any information you give that can help me figure out what it is will make it that much more difficult on him."  
  
Eric seemed to consider this for a moment. "I thought you two were friends?" he finally asked.  
  
"Too many secrets and broken promises under the bridge" had been Chloe's answer.  
  
"How about the accusations that I was involved with trashing the Torch?" He asked next.  
  
"Did you?"  
  
"Not us." Eric replied immediately. "We trashed the Kent's barn and roughed his parents up a little bit, but we didn't do anything to the Torch. I just let on like we did to Clark to kind of drive home the fact that while we might not be able to kill him we could hurt him in different ways."  
  
Chloe was a bit surprised at Eric's admission to having hurt the Kents. She hadn't been aware that anything had been amiss with them at all. She was amazed at how Clark had been able to cover up his involvement in the whole affair. Then Eric's statement hit her.  
  
"What do you mean 'we might not be able to kill him'?"  
  
Eric clamped his mouth shut as if upset that he had let some information slip. Then after a moment during which he seemed to consider his options he answered.  
  
"If you repeat this to anyone I'll call you a liar and say you're just trying to make up stuff for the school paper."  
  
When Chloe nodded her head in agreement he continued.  
  
"The first time me and the guys caught Clark following us we tossed him into a furnace. End of nosey witness and any evidence of foul play."  
  
Chloe's eyes widened in horror at Eric's cold-blooded statement of attempted murder.  
  
"The next day I'm arrested and as the sheriff's dragging me to her car there stands Kent with a smirk on his face and not a mark on him. Not so much as a single singed hair."  
  
Eric stopped at that point to see how Chloe was reacting to this.  
  
"Any ideas how he did it?" Chloe asked.  
  
"Me and the guys found a way to use refined meteor rocks to increase our strength. I mean really increase it. The first night Clark caught us I knocked him down, but I should have been able to knock him out. Then when we threw him into the furnace it took all three of us to do it. And the way he reacted to the meteor rocks made it obvious he knew something about them too. When I ran into him outside of the Torch offices he threw me up against a locker. I was able to break his grip, but just barely."  
  
"Anything else."  
  
"Yeah. During our last run in with him he did a lot more than just use strength. Me and the guys had been able to handle him as a group, but that last time I'm not sure how he was able to do the things he did. He looked at some pipes hanging down from the ceiling and they just fell. Then he just.disappeared before we could grab him and ended up behind Vince where he wrapped a pipe around him and then knocked him out with one punch."  
  
Chloe tried to keep a schooled professional look and retain some skepticism, but was amazed at what she was hearing.  
  
"It gets better." Eric said. "I'd come too far to be stopped by some hick in flannel and if no one else could stop him I was going to personally take care of the problem once and for all. So, I picked up a 500 lb. piece of concrete and tried to crush him with it."  
  
"What happened?" Chloe asked leaning forward in her chair despite herself.  
  
"It broke." Eric stated matter of factly. "No, it shattered. And he didn't even look like I mussed his hair. Then he hit me. I don't remember anything else until the police got there."  
  
"So you think the meteor rocks have something to do with it?" Chloe asked.  
  
"I don't see any other explanation." Eric replied.  
  
"He obviously knew something about what they could do. He kept trying to warn us that they were dangerous. I think he found a way to make use of them like we did with just a little different results."  
  
There she had it. Two separate people telling similar stories about a teenager who couldn't be hurt, was inhumanly strong, able to disappear (which would explain a few instances where she found herself talking to thin air) and could move things by looking at them.  
  
It was that last thought that pushed her to visit Justin, but she couldn't yet overcome the fear that was evoked by thoughts of him coming after her in the barn. But she was getting there. Maybe seeing Ian would help get her courage up. He also reminded her of bad decisions and near death experiences, but at least there weren't the emotions that had been tied up with Justin.  
  
The Lowell County YDC was also home to Ian Randall the boy that had dated and tried to kill both herself and Lana Lang. Murder and attempted murder charges had gotten Ian sentenced to the YDC only until his 18th birthday at which time he would be transferred to the Kansas State Penitentiary to serve out the remainder of his sentence. It was a far cry from the ivy- covered campuses of Ian's dreams.  
  
Ian had agreed to see her without any questions or complaints that his lawyers were against the idea. This piqued Chloe's curiosity while at the same time making that little voice in her head scream at her to run in the other direction.  
  
By this time, the guards at the YDC were getting used to Chloe's comings and goings. Three visits in less than three weeks to see three different inmates was probably fueling enough water cooler jokes that the guards didn't want to interfere with the show they were getting or at least thought they were getting.  
  
She was led without incident to the visitation room where she met Ian. The little voice in her head fairly shrieked when she met his gaze. Pure hatred and what she could only describe as malevolence gazed back at her.  
  
"Hello, Ian." Chloe said squaring her shoulders and adopting a poker face.  
  
Ian simply stared back without saying a word.  
  
At a loss without any answering comments Chloe decided to proceed by being direct and getting this over with as quickly as possible.  
  
"I need to ask you some questions about what happened at the dam."  
  
"You killed him." Ian said suddenly, interrupting her.  
  
"I beg your pardon?"  
  
"You killed him." He said again simply. "You, Lana, and Kent. You all killed him. You killed ME!"  
  
The last was said just a bit more loudly than conversationally. Not so much to provoke interference from the guards, but enough to make Chloe back up.  
  
"You were trying to kill us, Ian." Chloe said trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice. "And what happened to..him, was an accident."  
  
"You were in my way. Slow and stupid people have always gotten in the way of their betters. Why couldn't you just give way to the natural order of things?" Ian demanded. "You ruined everything."  
  
"Listen, Ian" Chloe began trying to sound calm and rational, "this isn't getting us anywhere. Tell you what. Just answer a few questions and I'll leave you alone."  
  
Ian laughed at that point and favored her with a malicious grin.  
  
"I didn't agree to meet with you to answer any questions."  
  
"Then why did you agree to meet with me?" Chloe asked.  
  
"To deliver a message." Ian replied leaning forward and dropping his voice.  
  
"I'm going to get out of here one day and I'm going to kill you. You, Lana Lang and Clark Kent. I wanted you to know that. To expect that. And if you try to tell anyone I'll just deny it and claim that you wanted a story and when I refused to talk you threatened that you'd make it tough on me in here."  
  
Chloe sat stone faced unsure how to react.  
  
"You killed part of me, but it's only a matter of time before I figure out how to split again. How long do you think they can hold one person when they are really two people? Don't go to sleep at night Chloe. I might already be in your room waiting on you. And I'll take my time."  
  
Before Chloe could even think to respond to Ian's threats he had signaled for the guard. With a parting smirk he was escorted from the room.  
  
End Part 2  
  
Drop Cloth - Part 3  
  
Chloe felt herself shudder again as she remembered leaving the Youth Detention Center and barely being able to make it out to the parking lot before she lost her lunch while leaning on her car. The visit to Justin Gaines had been put on indefinite hold.  
  
When Chloe had taken time to reflect on her discoveries the biggest surprise was that she.well, wasn't very surprised. Sure the actually details were a little, ok, incredibly amazing, but the idea of Clark being a meteor mutant really wasn't that much of a surprise. Clark having been affected by the meteors in some way had actually been her working theory from the beginning. She had just been amazed at how well he had covered things up. Still, a good reporter never settles for the simple answers she told herself and she had a lot of ground still to cover.  
  
Chloe had attempted once to contact Dr. Virgil Swann. Considering his cryptic attempts to contact Clark after the barn-burning incident Chloe was sure that he had a large piece of the mystery that was Clark Kent. Chloe made her initial contact using the story that she was a close friend of Clark's who was concerned about his disappearance and was hoping that it would encourage Dr. Swann to open up to her. After all, Swann had attempted contact with Clark through her computer so he already knew she was a close friend and Chloe figured that he would convince himself of her genuineness without her having to overplay her hand.  
  
All the attempt earned her was a return email in which Dr. Swann claimed to have no idea who Clark Kent was, but wishing her the best in her continued search. The email also contained a virus that invaded her system and would have evaded all standard virus protections if not for the new software supplied by LuthorCorp when they donated the computers. As it was, the LuthorCorp software was unable to contain the virus and could only report that it had self-deleted upon discovery and attempt at containment. There was also no way of knowing what the intentions of the virus had been. Needless to say she didn't attempt contact with Swann a second time.  
  
Lionel's swift response to this invasion was a tip off to Chloe that her computers were hooked to more than just the Internet. He had burst into the Torch offices the next evening while she was working late and wanted to know what she had been working at. He reported that the Torch's virus scanning software had contacted the LuthorCorp Security Web Site in regards to information about a new type of virus it had encountered. He stated that a similar virus had attempted to attach itself to the LuthorCorp mainframe and he wanted to know where she had been digging that might have gained such interest from outside parties.  
  
Chloe had not been fooled. It was too much of a coincidence that Swann would attack both her and LuthorCorp's computers on two separate occasions. Luthor had to be attached to her system in some way. After that she vowed to keep anything she found in hand written form only. To that end she purchased some notebooks and hid them under some floorboards in her room that she had loosened for that purpose.  
  
Leads were starting to dry up at this point and Chloe decided to focus more on the home front figuring it was safer than dealing with homicidal meteor freaks and diabolic computer viruses. Unfortunately, investigating Lana Lang and Pete Ross had been a lot more difficult if less physically threatening than her previous investigative attempts. With them she couldn't ask direct questions and she had to be extremely careful that they didn't realize that she was asking questions at all.  
  
***********************************  
  
Lana was the love of Clark's life. The golden girl of Smallville. She was intelligent, beautiful, and nice to a fault. Chloe had hated her from the moment Clark first mentioned her name the second day Chloe had been in Smallville. This feeling had continued for the longest time before they actually started talking to each other. After they had struck up an uneasy acquaintance Chloe had slowly began to like Lana despite herself.  
  
Chloe always tried to ignore the twisting feeling in her stomach that she felt when she was around Lana and Clark together and adamantly refused to acknowledge it as jealousy. She preferred at those times to tell herself that she was just disgusted with their behavior. She told herself that Lana and Clark didn't really know each other well enough and that it was just a crush that both would get over in time.  
  
Chloe had told Clark repeatedly that the issues they had with each other had nothing to do with Lana. Chloe justified this to herself by saying that it truly wasn't about Lana at all. She actually liked Lana. It was just Clark's feelings where Lana was concerned and his behavior because of those feelings that caused a problem for Chloe.  
  
Where Lana was concerned Clark became totally "Lana Focused" to the exception of everything else around him. Including Chloe.  
  
Chloe had once told Lana that she feared that Lana would take Clark away from the Torch, which was what he and Chloe did together. Lana said that it was never her intent to come between Chloe and Clark, but that was exactly what she had done. Worse, she had demonstrated beyond Chloe's ability to rationalize it away that there truly had been nothing there to "come between" anyway.  
  
Lana had been devastated by Clark's disappearance. She had isolated herself away from everyone and spent her time either working at the Talon or taking what she told Gabe and Chloe as long drives "to clear my head." Chloe had followed her on one of these road trips and discovered that she went to Metropolis. Chloe quickly discovered that Lana was launching a one- woman campaign to find Clark and had been putting posters up all around the city. A check of the odometer showed that Lana made these trips several times a week.  
  
Chloe had tried to talk to her about Clark, but had only gotten limited results. Lana had said that she and Clark had decided to give a relationship a chance, but that Clark had some "personal" problems that he needed to deal with and didn't feel he could do so in Smallville. Chloe had used this as an opening to discuss Clark's "secrets".  
  
Lana had become obviously close mouthed and evasive at that point. Thinking back Chloe could remember her behaving much the same way after the twister.  
  
"I always wondered why he got so touchy about me looking into his adoption." Chloe had said.  
  
Lana had looked uncomfortable for a moment before replying.  
  
"Lot's of adopted children are touchy about the subject. They have a lot of questions themselves and are often too afraid of what the answers might be. I don't think it was too unusual."  
  
"Come on, Lana. We had an assignment due and he was ducking me. He had to know I would look for answers somewhere, but he freaked out like I was breaking into his house and videoing him taking a shower. I just think it's interesting that he was ducking me when the questions were about his past."  
  
"It was a six-page paper, Chloe." Lana replied appearing slightly irritated. "You could have filled up half of it just discussing the day to day farm chores that he has to juggle with his school work. You told me that you actually looked up the history of agency that handled his adoption. Overkill much?"  
  
"I was just being thorough." Chloe said feeling her face redden. "I didn't think that it was something to blow a gasket about."  
  
"You're not from around here Chloe. In small towns people know each other's business way too much. It tends to make us guard what privacy we have just a bit more than usual. The Kents are private people because that's the nature of their upbringing. Like Freud said, 'sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.'"  
  
Chloe could feel the wall starting to close her off from Lana and quickly moved to regain some of the back and forth they had previously shared. In fumbling with something to change the subject she made her first major mistake.  
  
"Listen, I know you're upset about Clark leaving and I know you've been spending a lot of time trying to find him on your own in Metropolis. It's stressing you out and I'd like to help."  
  
Lana's eyes had widened slightly at that statement, but had quickly narrowed as her demeanor chilled.  
  
"Have you been following me, Chloe?"  
  
"I was just worried, Lana. You haven't been yourself and I just wanted to make sure you were Ok."  
  
"Thank you for your concern, Chloe, but like I said, people are private for a reason. Maybe you need to respect that more."  
  
Lana had simply turned and left the room at that point not giving Chloe a chance to answer. She had been noticeably distant after that and never let their conversations go beyond the superficial.  
  
End Part 3  
  
Drop Cloth - Part 4  
  
Negotiating the labyrinth of corridors in LuthorCorp gave Chloe plenty of time to reflect upon the path that had gotten her here.  
  
When Chloe had become brave enough she had visited the Kents to overtly express concern for Martha's well being since her hospitalization and ask if they had heard from Clark. She didn't expect to get much from the Kents, but thought she at least might notice anything out of the ordinary now that she was visiting with the mind to be on the lookout for just such things.  
  
When she arrived at the farm the first noticeable thing was Jonathan working on a tractor in the back yard of the house rather than in the field. Chloe had walked around the house to get a better look and saw that the tractor had a earth plowing blade attached to the front and Jonathan seemed to be filling in some kind of hole.  
  
When Jonathan saw Chloe he shut the tractor down and quickly got off to approach her. Chloe got the distinct impression that he was trying to block her view from what he was doing.  
  
"Wasn't there some kind of cellar there?" Chloe asked refusing to be put off.  
  
"Yeah," Jonathan answered "but the ceiling was getting weak and I didn't want someone falling through."  
  
Before Chloe could formulate another question Jonathan continued on.  
  
"Listen, Chloe. Was there something I could do for you?"  
  
"Uh, yeah" Chloe began. She always tried to not get flustered by Mr. Kent's intimidation and mercurial moods, but always failed.  
  
"I, uh, just wanted to stop by and see how you and Mrs. Kent were doing and see if you'd heard from Clark."  
  
'Mrs. Kent and I are fine Chloe. Thank you for your concern. We haven't heard anything from Clark though. I'd appreciate it if you or any of his other friends do hear from him that you let us know as soon as possible."  
  
"Of course, Mr. Kent. Um, would it be Ok if I just step in to check on Mrs. Kent?"  
  
A suspicious look briefly crossed Jonathan's face and Chloe knew that she had ran into an even deader end than with Lana.  
  
"Mrs. Kent is asleep right now, Chloe. She needs her rest and I'd appreciate if she wasn't disturbed for a few days."  
  
"Ok, I mean sure, Mr. Kent. No problem."  
  
"Thank you. Listen, I don't mean to be rude, but I really need to get back to work. Was there anything else?"  
  
"Uh, no. I just wanted to stop by and see how you two were. I'll just go ahead and go." Chloe said backing up.  
  
"I'll let you know if I hear anything. About Clark I mean."  
  
"Thanks." Jonathan had replied standing in place until she walked around the house.  
  
As Chloe got into the car she mentally kicked herself for all of the "uh's" and "um's" that had punctuated her sentences. What was it about that man that flustered her so much? Looking in her rearview mirror as she drove off she could see him standing at the side of the house watching her depart.  
  
"Because he reminds you of a watchdog that you know is going to tear out your throat if you touch the family's silver." Chloe answered herself aloud.  
  
Given her last two failures she had decided to take a greater amount of care when talking to Pete. Pete and Clark had been friends since virtually infancy and had seemed to actually grow closer over the past year. There were times Chloe could have sworn that Clark and Pete were sharing some private joke and laughing behind the backs of those out of the loop.  
  
But, there had also been times of strained friendship too such as Clark's friendship with Lex and around the time that Pete had saved that trucker when he had ran off of the road. Chloe had never found out what was going on then, but figured that Pete and Clark had finally had it out over the whole Lex issue. She had reasoned this because it was shortly after that that the two began spending even more time together and Clark had cut back on his association with Lex.  
  
It was also about that time that Pete and Clark seemed to start sharing their private little joke. Chloe figured if nothing else then Pete had probably been made privy to the secret that was Clark Kent. If so, then perhaps Pete would be her best source yet. Especially since she was armed with the knowledge she had gained from Jeff and Eric. If she was lucky she might even be able to bluff him into believing she knew more than she did. She knew that if she blew this one then her benefit as an "insider" was gone for good.  
  
Pete had been very open about his concern for Clark, but like Lana had been evasive whenever Chloe voiced curiosity as to why Clark would have ran away.  
  
"I don't know, Chloe. Clark has a lot on his plate what with helping his dad out on the farm, schoolwork, and the whole Lana thing. Maybe he just needed some time away."  
  
"But," Chloe said, "his relationship with Lana was taking off. She told me that they were going to give it a try, but then he suddenly had to run off to deal with some problems."  
  
Pete looked a little flustered at first, but finally said, "Well, who knows. Clark must have had his reasons."  
  
"Yeah, but it's those reasons that concern me." Chloe said.  
  
"He's not in any trouble is he?" She asked.  
  
"No!" Pete replied quickly. "I mean I don't think so. What kind of trouble could Clark be in? In a world of White Bread, Clark is Whole Wheat. He's about as wholesome as you can get."  
  
"I think there's more to Clark Kent than meets the eye, Pete."  
  
"Listen, Chloe," Pete began "Clark may be a little private, but that's just the way some people are around here."  
  
"Yeah, that's what Lana said. Privacy like that belongs in the 'X-Files' or 'Children of the Corn' though."  
  
"Hey," Pete said with a grin "Smallville used to be the creamed corn capitol of the world."  
  
"I'm serious Pete. Clark had secrets beyond just a stash of Playboys in his hayloft or his telescopic voyeuristic tendencies."  
  
"Clark's biggest secret, Chloe, is that he's afraid of heights."  
  
"Afraid of heights?" Chloe said. "Everyone knows that."  
  
"Exactly." Pete said and then he turned and left.  
  
Chloe had let him go because she figured she was pushing her limits right now and probably needed to back off for a bit. She'd pull out the big guns next time.  
  
Approaching Lionel Luthor's office Chloe remembered when she had talked to Pete next.  
  
He had begun to avoid her after their first talk and Chloe figured it would seem out of character if she didn't call him on it. She also figured that it would give her the perfect time to bring out the knowledge she had recently gained and observe Pete's reaction.  
  
"You've been avoiding me" was the simple statement she used to begin the conversation when she came up on him from behind in the Talon.  
  
He seemed to startle for the moment, but when he turned around he had adopted a friendly smile and said, "Nah, Chlo. I've just had a lot of things to do around the house. My brother's getting his things ready to move to the dorm so the Ross's are doing a little room shuffling."  
  
"Really?" Chloe said. "It seemed like it just happened after I started asking about Clark's secrets."  
  
Pete shook his head sadly. "Chloe, come on. I know you've made a career out of the Wall of Weird, but let's give it a break OK? You've known Clark for two years. He's a geeky farm kid with a hard case paragon of virtue for a father, a saint for a mother, and a crush on the former head cheerleader. A little strange, perhaps, but strictly middle-America strange. You hop on over to Grandville and you'll probably find his separated at birth twin."  
  
"A twin that can survive a blast furnace? A twin that can take a hit from a flail and walk away when the flail doesn't?"  
  
"What on earth are you talking about, Chloe?"  
  
"I think you know, Pete. Maybe everyone else likes to keep their heads in the sand, but I look for answers. I know about the things that Clark can do."  
  
There, the bluff was out there. Now to see if Pete would take the bait.  
  
"The things that Clark can do? Chloe you're not making any sense."  
  
"Come on, Pete. You've seen this stuff as many times as I have. Strange things happen in this town. The meteor shower changed things."  
  
The look in Pete's eyes only lasted for a second, but it had been enough to make her plow on.  
  
"They changed people. People doing extraordinary things isn't so extraordinary anymore."  
  
"What's this got to do with Clark, Chloe?" Pete said becoming grim faced.  
  
"The strength, the invulnerability. Do I need to add more, Pete?"  
  
"Strength and invulnerability, right." Pete said nodding. "When Eric Summers threw Clark into that car and broke his ribs or when he went into the coma after that contagion exposure. Yeah, I can see it now. It was all a ruse so we wouldn't notice he had become a super meteor mutant."  
  
"Good catch, Chloe." Pete said standing. "You'll have to send me a copy of the book if you get it published. Oh, and autograph it too. It sells better on Ebay if its autographed."  
  
Chloe had sat dumbfounded. In her zeal she had totally forgotten the two incidents that Pete had just mentioned. She had accepted from the outset that Clark had a big secret and so had grabbed onto the first explanation presented. In doing so she had also forgotten the first rule of journalism about checking your sources. She felt like an idiot.  
  
Shaking his head Pete began walking off.  
  
"Come see me after you turn off that Twilight Zone episode playing over and over again in your head." He said over his shoulder before he walked out the door.  
  
Chloe had been furious with herself. She even stopped along the side of the road on the way home to scream at herself in the rearview mirror. She continued to rant until she had time to stop and think things through. She had checked her sources. At least to an extent. Two separate people had given similar stories attesting to Clark's abilities. Ok, both of them were hardly trustworthy and both of them could have potentially had contact with each other prior to her meetings with them and cooked their stories up. She really wouldn't know until she could check it out with an independent party. Someone not connected to those two and who wouldn't have had a chance to learn what she had been told.  
  
But there was no one. Everyone else was dead. Even if she could get Ian to talk he was still in the same facility as Eric and Jeff. His story wouldn't hold any more water than theirs. She felt sick. The sick feeling increased when the answer came to her.  
  
Justin.  
  
End Part 4  
  
Drop Cloth - Part 5  
  
Justin Gaines had been incarcerated long before Eric, didn't know Jeff and he was housed in the Kansas Correctional Psychiatric Center far away from both of them. God, she hated this. She did not want to see Justin. But she also didn't want to not find an answer to this mystery. Catch-22.  
  
The Kansas Correctional Psychiatric Center or KCPC was located just outside of Metropolis. Chloe had phoned ahead to request visitation with Justin. She had half hoped that he would refuse or that there would be some law or rule that prevented him from receiving visitors. So, of course, she was immediately granted permission.  
  
Unlike the Youth Detention Center there were no glass barriers to separate visitors from those that they were visiting. Visitation took place in a large room with two muscular orderlies loitering at one end ready in case things did not go well.  
  
Chloe had waited in the room by herself except for the two orderlies for ten minutes before a third orderly brought Justin into the room. The first thing that struck Chloe was shock at how he looked. Justin had easily gained forty pounds since she had last seen him.  
  
The shock must have shown on her face because the first words he spoke were, "You're surprised at how I look aren't you?"  
  
This gave Chloe her second shock because his speech while not slurred was definitely slowed.  
  
"It's the medicine." Justin continued. "Weight gain is one of the side effects. So's the way I talk. It slows my thinking down. Makes it hard to concentrate so I can't use my powers. They're all afraid I'll go Darth Vader on them and choke them with the Force."  
  
"They're probably right," he said with a short laugh.  
  
"How are you doing?" Chloe  
  
"How does it look like I'm doing? My hands are still messed up and I can't use my powers to compensate. I'm doing just peachy."  
  
Chloe glanced down at her hands not sure how to proceed. Then Justin gave her an opening.  
  
"Why are you here, Chloe? Did you feel sorry for me and decide to grace me with a pity visit?"  
  
Chloe bristled at the comment.  
  
"Why did you agree to see me if that's what you thought?"  
  
"Sometimes a pity visit beats no visits at all," he said shrugging his shoulders.  
  
"Plus," he continued looking her in the eyes, "I really did love you and I wanted to see you again."  
  
"You tried to kill me, Justin."  
  
"You betrayed me. You tried to tell Clark that I was the one who killed Kwan. You don't think a person should answer for it when they betray someone?"  
  
The irony of the statement was not lost on Chloe as her mind relived the moment she saw Clark and Lana kissing.  
  
"I think there are probably different viewpoints on that question, Justin," Chloe replied. "But, that's not what I'm here to debate. I want you to tell me what happened that day in the barn."  
  
"Why do you want to know?"  
  
"Aaarrgghh!" Chloe growled in frustration. "Why does everyone ask that question?"  
  
"I'm not sure what you're talking about, Chloe," Justin's confusion becoming evident.  
  
"Listen," Chloe said, "I just want you to tell me what happened after you knocked me out that day. What stopped you from killing me?"  
  
"You know what stopped me, Chloe. Clark stopped me. What are you talking about?"  
  
"But, I want to know how Clark stopped you."  
  
Justin snorted a short laugh and looked away, his eyes seeming to lose focus for a second.  
  
"You want me to tell you how your knight in shining armor rode to your rescue? Get real," he said looking back at her.  
  
"Justin," Chloe pleaded, "I really need to know what happened. It's important."  
  
Justin dropped his head and broke eye contact.  
  
"I'm not sure I even remember, Chloe. Since I've been here sometimes my days run together. Sometimes I'm not sure what's real and what isn't. Sometimes I can't even swear that I used to be able to move things with my mind."  
  
"You could, Justin. I saw you. But, I really need for you to concentrate. Tell me everything you remember even if you're not sure if it happened or not."  
  
Justin closed his eyes in concentration for a moment.  
  
"I remember throwing a chain saw at you."  
  
Chloe gasped despite herself.  
  
"Then Clark just appeared out of no where between you and the chainsaw. At least I think he did, but I'm not sure Chloe," Justin said starting to become frustrated.  
  
"You're doing fine, Justin. Go ahead."  
  
"He just appeared and then the chainsaw shattered when it hit him. I didn't understand how that happened. How could that happen, Chloe?"  
  
"I'm not sure, Justin, but keep going you're doing great."  
  
"He started talking to me and tried to get me to stop and I threw him into the hayloft. Then I started back toward you and he was behind me again, but he couldn't have been. I just said I threw him into the loft. Chloe, I don't know. I'm not sure what happened."  
  
"That's Ok, Justin. It doesn't have to make sense. Just keep telling me as you remember it."  
  
"I remember him grabbing me, telling me I'd never win and then he threw me into a wall. I guess it knocked me out or maybe I passed out. I'm not sure. That's all I remember though."  
  
There she had it, her corroborating evidence. Even with the Thorazine additive it was still too close to the other two stories to be ignored. It still didn't explain away the situations Pete had brought up, but it at least was strong enough that she no longer doubted the findings.  
  
"I love you."  
  
"Huh?" Chloe's head had jerked up at the pronouncement.  
  
"I said, 'I love you'" Justin repeated.  
  
"Uh, I mean, I'm not sure what to say to that Justin."  
  
"Say that you have feelings for me too. Say that's why you came today."  
  
"I'm sorry, Justin. I really am, but I can't say that. I did have feelings for you. I really did, but you killed people Justin. You tried to kill me. I can't get past that."  
  
"I was doing justice's work, Chloe. It had to be done. No one else was doing it."  
  
Justin was starting to become upset and his voice was starting to speed up and take on a shrill quality.  
  
"We belong together, Chloe. I know we do. I forgive your betrayal. When I get out of here you'll see. We can have what we had before."  
  
Justin began to try to rise out of his seat and reach toward Chloe who instantly started trying to escape backwards. The orderlies were there suddenly taking Justin by his arms and restraining him in his seat.  
  
"I think you'd better go, miss," one of the orderlies said.  
  
Chloe hadn't had to be told twice and had jumped up from her seat and started away. Suddenly she felt something like fingers digging into her body trying to pull her back. A glance back at Justin confirmed her suspicions as he was no longer struggling with the orderlies and had fixed her with a dead stare, sweat breaking out on his forehead.  
  
Chloe had spun around at that point and ran from the room fighting off the tugging sensation as she went. She could hear Justin's screams of "NO!" as she went through the door and down the hallway.  
  
End Part 5  
  
Drop Cloth - Part 6  
  
Standing at the threshold of Lionel's office Chloe once again experienced the sick feeling she had after her visit with Justin. The feeling of being unclean. Only this time it was accompanied by the thought that she was entering the gates of Hell when she crossed the threshold into the office.  
  
The receptionist greeted her and asked her to have a seat while she buzzed Mr. Luthor.  
  
"It'll be just a moment ma'am," the receptionist told her when she had hung up.  
  
Chloe smiled in acknowledgement and was left to her thoughts. She had plenty of speculation, but her investigation as of yet had still shown nothing concrete. The probability was high that Clark had been mutated by the meteor rocks like a dozen other people around Smallville. The difference in his case being that he appeared to actually try to help people. But, if that was the secret that he and his family was trying to hide then what was the deal with his sensitivity regarding his adoption? It didn't seem to add up.  
  
Could Lana be right? Could it just be that he was sensitive for no other reason than that he was adopted? The first rule of detective work was that sometimes the simplest answer was the right one. Maybe she was just chasing ghosts and leprechauns if she kept looking for more. Chloe knew that a lot of reporters had been fooled by what they wanted to see and had walked by the truth because it had been too simple to meet the amazing answer they thought they would find.  
  
Chloe's thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the phone at the receptionist's desk. When the woman had hung up she turned to Chloe.  
  
"It would appear that I am needed elsewhere for the moment, ma'am." The receptionist told Chloe. "Mr. Luthor said to tell you that he would be out in just a few minutes though and to make yourself comfortable."  
  
"Thank you," Chloe said to the receptionist as she went past out of the room.  
  
Luthor. That was a problem all in itself. She had passed along to him what Jeff and Eric reported along with her speculations before she had come to realize the harm they could do. Since then she had watered her reports with failed interviews while always mentioning a new lead she would pursue during the next week. She was trying to give the appearance of a dead-end investigation, but one in which she was still firmly on board with pursuing.  
  
When Pete had shot her theories full of holes she had initially been infuriated with herself, but had quickly seen the advantage of adding these facts into her next report. This way she had been able to refute what she had already told Lionel in regards to Jeff and Eric while also suggesting that this was probably something that the two of them had cooked up when she began requesting her interviews.  
  
Chloe had been very careful with the information she gathered. Anything of substance had went straight into the notebooks in her room. The computer became the repository of her own little brand of fiction. She was even careful to add and then delete little things because she was sure that Lionel could see everything she typed and did so long before she sent in her reports. This would give him the illusion that Chloe was pursuing an investigation, but was not going to pass along any unconfirmed facts. She knew Lionel saw her as a stupid kid playing at being an adult and she played to this vanity.  
  
"Let him think I'm working hard to be professional," she had though to her self.  
  
Chloe hoped that now that she had planted the seeds of doubt in Lionel's mind she could begin to take the investigation down a whole new path. One of her own invention. One that Lionel would not be able to disprove or untangle until it was too late. Along the way, who knows? Maybe Chloe could start to investigate Lionel himself and bring him down. She did have that nifty article in the Planet that she could use as her loudspeaker once she had her information in order, Chloe thought with a smile.  
  
This time her thoughts were interrupting by the beep of an intercom and Lionel's voice stating, "I can see you now, Ms. Sullivan."  
  
The first thing Chloe noticed as the door to Lionel's office was opened was the strange man who allowed her entry. The second was the sheets of plastic on the floor.  
  
"Ms. Sullivan," Lionel greeted her enthusiastically gesturing to a chair in front of his desk, "please, come in and have a seat."  
  
Both Lionel and his son, Lex had the habit of using formal address with people they dealt with professionally. When Lex addressed her this way Chloe had always felt an undercurrent of friendly teasing and never took offense. In fact, it always threatened to bring a smile to her face, which she tried to suppress in favor of professionalism.  
  
With Lionel, however, "Ms. Sullivan" always sounded mocking in tone and carried with it the sense of amused contempt.  
  
"Thank you Mr. Luthor." Chloe said as she sat in the indicated chair.  
  
Glancing down at the plastic she stated, "Wouldn't scotch guard be cheaper?"  
  
This elicited a laugh, but no answering comment from Luthor.  
  
"I brought you a weekly progress report." Chloe continued as she opened her folder, pulled out the report and handing it over to Lionel.  
  
"Thank you." Lionel said as he sat back and began to glance over the report.  
  
The man who had opened the door for Chloe sat down in the chair to her right and gazed at her with a slight smile on his face, but did not speak.  
  
Chloe met his gaze briefly and returned his smile with a slight nod of her head, but quickly turned back to face Lionel as she didn't know whom the man was or what he was doing there, but he was beginning to make her nervous. Or perhaps "more nervous" was the appropriate term.  
  
Lionel looked up at that moment as if just noticing her confusion and suddenly realizing he had forgotten something.  
  
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry Ms. Sullivan," Lionel began, "this is Mr. Morris. He's one of my, um, Property Managers. I invited him to join us because this matter involves some LuthorCorp assets."  
  
The way Lionel pronounced "assets" sent a chill down Chloe's spine.  
  
"Yes," Chloe said, "why did you want to see me in person?"  
  
"I've become concerned that you're not being totally honest with me, Ms. Sullivan."  
  
"What do you mean?" Chloe asked.  
  
"I mean," Lionel said gesturing toward the report on his desk, "that I don't think you have been revealing everything you have found out to me."  
  
Chloe began to relax slightly. She had prepared for this. She knew Lionel was tapped into her computer and that he had seen the facts she had "edited." She had already prepared a cover story. Chloe knew that Lionel was a naturally distrusting man. The best way to deal with such a personality as his was to give him what he expected, duplicity. Just duplicity of her own making. Nothing she had deleted was of importance, but it gave the impression that she was keeping information back. Once they had dealt with this issue Chloe would behave suitably chastised and then could proceed with a greater trust than before now that Lionel thought her cowed.  
  
"I've given you everything I could prove, Mr. Luthor."  
  
"Everything?" Lionel asked. "How about the things you couldn't prove? Your computer seems to bare record of several leads that you never informed me about."  
  
'"You broke into my computer?!" Chloe said proud of the indignation she had poured into the question.  
  
"They're my computers, Ms. Sullivan. I didn't have to break into anything."  
  
"Listen, Mr. Luthor, you wanted a professional investigation and that's what you got. You don't need to waste your time on unconfirmed innuendo. I learned my lesson after the Jeff Palmer and Eric Marsh incident. I wasn't going to make a fool of myself twice by passing along bad information. If it couldn't be confirmed I didn't include it."  
  
Lionel held her eyes before he responded.  
  
"But I thought that little bit of information was confirmed by your visit to Justin Gaines."  
  
Chloe froze. She hadn't included her visit to Justin in any report and she certainly hadn't typed a single letter of it on her computer.  
  
Lionel nonchalantly pulled open one of his desk drawers and took out two notebooks, which he sat on his desk in front of Chloe.  
  
Chloe felt the blood drain from her face and a sudden dryness in her mouth as she realized that the notebooks were the ones from underneath the floorboards of her room.  
  
"Exactly when did you get the foolish idea that you were equal to the task of taking me on, Ms. Sullivan?" Lionel asked with an amused smirk looking Chloe directly in the eye.  
  
Chloe sat perfectly still in shock, only just being able to pull her eyes away from the notebooks on Lionel's desk and meeting the stare of the man himself. At some point she even managed to close her mouth in an attempt to get some saliva working again.  
  
Leaning forward and adopting a darker look he continued, "I'm not 'inherited money' Ms. Sullivan. I'm a self-made man. I didn't get where I am without being able to read people and know when to trust them and when to look over their shoulder."  
  
"And I certainly didn't get to my position by letting a high school student cheat me out of my just due." Lionel added putting emphasis on her status and letting enough venom creep into his voice so as to leave her no room for doubt as to his feelings regarding her worth as a human being.  
  
"But," Lionel said leaning back in his chair regaining his friendly smile and making his tone lighter, "despite your duplicity you are a LuthorCorp employee and so you should at least be able to indulge in our severance package."  
  
Chloe's look of shock became one of bewilderment and then quickly changed into a pale, wide-eyed visage as she felt something cold and metallic press against her right temple.  
  
Too late she realized the significance of the plastic on the floor. Drop Cloth.  
  
~End~ (at least for now) 


End file.
